Its Snowing!!!!

Its snowin here in Ringwood! So what I hear you say! Well to us its a big event as its our first snow whilst in the caravan!

We woke this morning to a temperature reading of -6 thats the coldest so far. One of the things "M" has done today was make jackets for the aquarolls out of watertank liners and duct or duck tape, They look good and will be fully tested out over the next few days!

Changed over the aquaroll this evening and there was ice on the inside of it! Good job "M" made the covers. Ill add a picture tomorrow.

Its now just after 8.00pm or 2000hrs for the military types amongst us, and its snowing, Im deciding if I need to get up during the night and check to see how much snow has landed on the awning! How much weight can it hold? I wouldnt of thought a great deal, as we use the quick-lock release clips that grip the awning and the poles slot into them. They dont look like they could handle that much. So will be keeping an eye out. However they are pushed hard against the side of the van with no movement at all in the frame, or very little so I may well be mistaken. If I hear a hell of a crash during the night Ill know it cant handle too much!

There was ice on the inside of the awning this morning, which took me back to being a kid and seeing the ice on the inside of the window, mind you, Ive seen that in many places Ive lived or slept over the years! I once had to dig myself out of a tent as the snow had drifted right up over the door! I undid the door and was faced with a wall of snow! I hope I dont have to do that again, it wasnt fun!

Thinking back to some of the places Ive woken up in, its quite amazing Ive made it this far, some of the ones that I can publish are: various cow sheds, woods, fields, hedges, ditches, courtesey of HM forces. Once slept in an old derelict house on Otterburn where you could see the stars through the roof, that was in the middle of winter with snow on the ground. A pigs trough (empty), roof of a lorry, backs of vans/lorries/buses, cars, in my sleeping bag on a service station picnic bench in France! Pub bench in a beer garden, pub bench in a pub! On a beach in Spain all night till I was nearly run over by a tractor raking the beach, a hotel hallway! Strange houses, train carriages in sidings in Belgium (see earlier post) Ferrys, Planes, also all the dodgy bed and breakfasts and hotels Ive stayed in over the years.

Once at least half a dozen of us were sleeping in a tent, I think it was in the lake district, but it was howling a gale, all in our green magot sleeping bags, head inside, the tent actually blew away, we got it back next day from the next field! Not one of us bothered to get up to do anything about it!

During the European Football Championships in 1988 in Germany Jim James and I slept in a Renault 9 for more nights than I care to remember, In Stuttgart as we approached the central train station the front wheel wobbled then actually collapsed in, we ground to a halt with a shower of sparks, calmly we both got out, cracked open a bottle of becks and walked away! There we stayed in the taxi rank for 4 nights! Massive flag over the roof, base camp! How we werent arrested or moved on I have no idea! We also stayed in that car in Dusseldorf and Frankfurt! It was a two week roadtrip from hell and back again! Amazing fun!

I once stayed in this very old pub/hotel in Ross On Wye, my room had about 5 different levels to it, after a sociable drink that got out of hand, I finally made my way to my room, where I had to have a quick pee before getting into my bed, the last thing I remember was reading the sign as I climbed three steps up to the bathroom which said, Mind Your He..... Bang! out cold on the floor all night, woke to my alarm going off. Good night though, shame I didnt even get to sleep on the bed! Hell of a bruise to my forehead!

Which also reminds me of a rather embarrasing stay in Swansea one night. I awoke after another heavy session, to a sticky sensation and a hard, cold, metal object next to me in bed! Well, the metal object happened to be a massive metal platter, which at one stage had obviously contained prawn and mayo sandwiches, which I had pilfered from somewhere in the hotel I was staying in and took to bed with me! There must of been a wedding or something, this platter was about 2ft long, definately not room service! Covered in prawns, as was the whole of the bed I had a shower and they were coming out of everywhere! filling up the shower tray, I had to poke them down the plug hole with my toes! Not good! The last thing you want to see after a skinful is hundreds of bloody prawns, and small triangles of white bread especially coming from what appears to be everywhere!

Climbed into the back of my fiesta courier van one night whilst driving from London to Scotland on a courier trip, shut the back door, settled down for a couple of hours kip, woke up, tried to open the back door, it wouldnt! Im shut in, the security grill was bolted in so I couldnt climb over, an hour later, no skin on my knuckles I had managed to unbolt the security grill and climbed into the front seats! What a pain in the arse that was!

Other places that Ive woken up in, now that Ive had more time to think about things, porches, conservatories, a shed and a garage. I once woke up in a tent after an extremely heavy night, and said, that was the wierdest dream ever, I dreamt that I was in a big circus tent, with a load of hippies, drinking strange potions whilst playing a didgereedoo it was raining and the light bulbs were exploding. The reply that I wasnt expecting was, - Jools that wasnt a dream!

Oh the stories I could tell! The one about the postbike in Copenhagen I cant tell for fear of prosecution!

Well, I digressed a little, but it just goes to show, that if it does snow, and the temperature does drop enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey, personally I reckon I can cope!

The other news of today is "China" dog has been in to the vets and had her bits removed! One sore and dopey dog tonight! She played up a little bit at the vets, "M" has the scratches on her arms to prove it, but its all done now, so at least we wont end up with any surprises, not the sort of thing you need whilst in a caravan!

So there you have another random post, with very little to do about caravaning! But hope it makes you have a giggle, after all, there is nothing more British than laughing at others misfortune!